From a minor art evolving into a daily part of their lives, for most Chinese people Chinese films have gained momentum both in quality and quantity in a golden era over the past 10 years.

In 2017, the Chinese blockbusterWolf Warrior 2achieved huge success both at the box office and in public praise, scoring 5.68 billion yuan in total, the single highest-grossing film in the history of Chinese cinema and the first Chinese film to squeeze into the all-time box office worldwide (ranked 55th).

This year, the Chinese black comedy drama,Dying to Survive, has aroused heated discussions on China's entire society.

And Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged more efforts to improve patients' access to costly cancer treatments in response to heated public discussion of the film.

It is no exaggeration to say that the film industry no longer acts as an entertainment tool for people, but shoulders more responsibility in every aspect of the country.

China is the world's second-largest movie market, with ticket revenue growing by 13.45 percent year-on-year to 55.9 billion yuan in 2017, more than triple the growth rate in 2016, according to official figures.

Some experts have predicted that as the Chinese film industry gains more cultural confidence and takes a people-centered approach to meet people's needs for a better life, the film market is bound to reach the top in the near future.

Here we selected the 10 great films produced in the past 10 years as we review the long journey China's film industry has gone through.

1. The Message

Release year: 2009

Genre: War, thriller, crime

Director: Kuo-fu Chen

Cast: Zhou Xun, Li Bingbing, Huang Xiaoming, Zhang Hanyu

2. Aftershock

Release year: 2010

Genre: History, disaster, drama

Director: Feng Xiaogang

Cast: Xu Fan, Zhang Jingchu, Chen Daoming

3. Beginning of the Great Revival

Release year: 2011

Genre: History, drama

Director: Han Sanping

Cast: Liu Ye, Chen Kun, Zhang Jiayi

4. Lost in Thailand

Release year: 2012

Genre: Comedy

Director: Xu Zheng

Cast: Xu Zheng, Wang Baoqiang, Huang Bo

5. The Grandmaster

Release year: 2013

Genre: Drama

Director: Wong Kar-Wai

Cast: Zhang Ziyi, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai

6. Dearest

Release year: 2014

Genre: Drama, family

Director: Peter Chan

Cast: Zhao Wei, Huang Bo, Hao Lei

7. Monkey King: Hero is Back

Release year: 2015

Genre: Animation

Director: Tian Xiaopeng

Cast: Zhang Lei, Lin Zijie

8. Operation Mekong

Release year: 2016

Genre: Action, crime

Director: Dante Lam

Cast: Zhang Hanyu, Eddie Peng

9. War Wolf Two

Release year: 2017

Genre: Action

Director: Wu Jing

Cast: Wu Jing, Zhang Han

10. Dying to Survive

Release year: 2018

Genre: Comedy

Director: Wen Muye

Cast: Xu Zheng, Tan Zhuo, Wang Chuanjun